Diplo: “I Owe A Lot Of My Success To Jamaica…There’s Magic Here”

Producer-songwriter Diplo, of dancehall-EDM trio Major Lazer, has spoken glowingly of his love for Jamaica and how the island not only inspired him but also contributed to his success in music and became the location of his “home away from home,” an off-the-grid retreat for family and friends in Portland.

During a tour of his 62-acre Pompey Estate in San-San Portland, for a recent Architectural Digest feature, Diplo showcased his horses, Wes, Rockabye, and Megan The Stallion, and much like many stars before him, expressed his admiration for the island, as as well as gratitude.

“I’ve been coming to Jamaica for almost 20 years to record to make music… I think I owe a lot of my success to this place to Jamaica, you know. The ambient sound of this place, birds dancehall, wind, waves. I love all those sounds, you know, and that’s kind of what Jamaica is. It’s beautiful, peaceful, but also electric and crazy all the time,” Diplo said.

“I found this a 50 acre piece of land and I had a vision for what I wanted to build and you know. Seven years later We’ve got it finished and it’s really a beautiful place. That’s what I call my home away from home,” he explained.

“For a little island, this country has had such a powerful cultural impact around the world. There’s magic here,” he told Architectural Digest later.

Diplo’s Major Lazer was initially made up of himself and Switch. In late 2011, the group morphed into a trio, featuring Diplo, Walshy Fire and Jillionaire, after Switch made his exit due to, according to Diplo, “creative differences”.

While Still a duo, Major Lazer released their first album Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do on June 16, 2009.

The album was recorded in Jamaica at Tuff Gong Studios and heavily influenced by Dancehall music. It featured several Jamaican Dancehall stars including Vybz Kartel, Ward 21, Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas, Turbulence, T.O.K, and Leftside.

Since then, Major Lazer’s successes have been wide and varied. On June 20, 2010, the group released an EP titled Lazers Never Die, featuring two new tracks and three remixes by Thom Yorke and other artists.

Major Lazer’s third album, Peace is the Mission, which was released in June 2015, included the mega-hits Lean On and Light It Up with Jamaican singer Nyla. Lean On achieved historic success, becoming the most successful independently released song of all time by reaching the number one spot on the Top 40 charts.

During the Architectural Digest tour, Diplo also revealed that he has a state-of-the-art studio at the property, which has been patronised by several superstars since the he opened it to outsiders a few months ago, among them Reggae’s Chronixx, whom he says is a neighbour of his.

“This is the part that pays for the whole house this where the music is made, the magic is made. This is the live room of Pompey Studios. We only opened up a couple months ago, so I’m mostly in the mixing room mixing as a producer, but I’ve played some piano a couple records,” he said.

“We’ve had a couple guys here recording. One big Jamaican artist Chronixx was here. He’s also a neighbor of mine,” he added.

According to Diplo, the Portland studio is his first fully equipped and professional music studio.

“This is actually my first proper music studio. I’ve always been a bedroom producer. I’ve always had a studio in one of my one of my rooms in my house, so to build a fully functioning studio is very big deal for me. I wanted to be something that anybody could be comfortable in, whether you’re a band or a pop star doing a soundtrack., But it definitely harkens to the 70s It’s got that vibe with all our accessories and double-pane glass…,” he said.

The recording studio

The location of the main studio at the property, the producer affirms, has been a source of inspiration for him.

“We have the mixing room and we have one of the best lounges I’ve ever seen in a studio… This is a great place to decompress and relax between takes and making music. Like the rest of the house, this is also open to the environment You can be recording and then a cow or goat will walk by and just add to your palette of inspiration,” he said.

Nevertheless, he was particularly proud of his bedroom studio.

“We have a really cool bedroom down here the secret bedroom because this is one of my first studios I’ve ever built. I’m a bedroom studio guy and we actually recreated a bedroom studio underneath the studio,” he said.